Real time and online monitoring of the debittering stage in the table olive processing

Project Information

TELEOLIVA

Grant agreement ID: 697335

DOI

10.3030/697335

Project closed

EC signature date 31 August 2015

Start date 1 September 2015

End date 29 February 2016

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

GLOBAL OLIVE CONSULTING SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TELEOLIVA (Real time and online monitoring of the debittering stage in the table olive processing)

Reporting period: 2015-09-01 to 2016-02-29

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In the past 25 years, global consumption of table olives has increased by 173% according to the latest market report of the International Olive Oil Council. It is within the framework of the European Union where the traditional producers in the sector are located, which have also the high consumption rates. Only in Mediterranean European countries, more than 600 companies are linked to the table olive sector, a sector that worldwide implies more than 2,000 companies generating over 1,750 million € annually.
The TELEOLIVA platform, by Global Olive, arises in this environment as a commitment to the modernization of a tradition-rooted sector. Aware of the need for immediacy, the platform proposes a series of ICT tools that enables monitoring the elaboration of table olives in real time from anywhere in the world. The main benefits are:
Objectivity, achieving a greater degree of confidence in the product by producers and buyers.
Significant increase in quality, improving the number of top quality olives (reducing low quality from 10% to 2.5%).
Reducing overall costs for industries, focusing on lower input and energy consumption, time spent in process controls and a significant decrease in wastewater, which makes TELEOLIVA also a sustainable process.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Two activities have been conducted for the technical validation of the platform:
Organoleptic: a study conducted by CTAEX (Agri-Food Technological Center of Extremadura, Spain) shows that olives processed by TELEOLIVA have similar characteristics to traditional ones and are preferred by tasters.
Operational: consisted of the use of the platform during the harvest period in industries in Spain, Italy and Argentina. In all cases, the experience was satisfactory. Customers were able to use the platform without any problems, obtaining the expected performance. Application to black olives was a key finding to expand the functionalities of the system and increase its feasibility.
Validation activities have also included the economic feasibility, gaining a deep knowledge of the market and main drivers to define a viable and scalable business model for TELEOLIVA that help Global Olive consolidate as the world leader company in table olive sector specialized services.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The TELEOLIVA platform combines science, technology and expertise to improve the quality, keeping the flavor that makes table olives one of the most popular food in any diet and increasing productivity of a sector that increasingly consolidates globally.